Dempsey: Congress doesn't have to legislate on women in combat

2/3/13 11:08 AM EST

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey says in the wake of the decision lifting the military’s ban on women in combat, he “would do nothing to allow” the readiness of the force to be undermined — and Congress can “legislate if they like” on the issue of standards, but “they don’t have to.”

In an interview aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Dempsey said lifting the combat exclusion for women comes down to ensuring that the military has “the right talent in the force.” As for members of Congress who want to legislate on the issue, Dempsey noted the military is required to report to Congress as positions are opened up, anyway.

“You're not gonna change standards?” NBC’s Chuck Todd asked.

“We are going to make sure that we've got the right standards for the right job that maintain the readiness of the force,” Dempsey said. “My primary responsibility is the readiness of the force. And I would do nothing to allow that to be undermined. By the way, there's also a requirement as we open up occupational specialties to report to Congress and they would have the opportunity to ask us what we've done to standards.”

“This really is about changing the paradigm from one of exclusiveness to inclusiveness to do the best job to make the best force for Joint Force 2020, which is where we're looking,” he added. “We gotta get from here to 2020, make sure we got the right talent in the force. And this is part of that.”